Indonesia on Tuesday launched an investment plan to attract $20 billion pledged by Western nations in a renewable energy transition pact agreed last year for the archipelago to slash emissions and wean itself off coal. Under the Comprehensive Investment and Policy Plan (CIPP), the Southeast Asian nation will seek to slash its carbon dioxide emissions to 250 million metric tons for its on-grid power sector by 2030.
The European Union's top climate official said Thursday that China should stop building new coal-fired power plants and contribute to a global fund to help poor countries affected by climate change. Wopke Hoekstra, the EU climate commissioner, raised both issues in what he called intensive and open conversations with his Chinese counterparts ahead of U.N. climate talks opening in Dubai at the end of this month. Europe and the U.S. have been arguing that wealthier emerging economies such as China and Saudi Arabia should also give money to the fund.
Last December, PPL Corporation subsidiaries Louisville Gas and Electric Company (LG&E) and Kentucky Utilities Company (KU) announced a plan to replace 1,500 megawatts of aging coal-fired generation (nearly one-third of Kentucky’s coal fleet!) with two 621-megawatt (MW) natural gas combined-cycle units along with several unreliable, intermittent solar projects (see PPL Replacing Coal-Fired Power Plants with